The momentum Jeff Gordon carried into the Chase for the Sprint Cup came to a screeching halt Sunday with a hard crash at Chicagoland Speedway.

Gordon, who had finished third, second and second in his past three races to make the Chase, was running fourth when the throttle stuck on his car and he crashed hard into the Turn 1 wall on lap 188 of 267.

"We're done," Gordon told his team over his radio. "The throttle stuck. Sorry, guys. That was an awesome run we were having."

Gordon took his car to the garage and his team was making repairs to try to get him back in the race. He finished 35th in Sunday's Geico 400.

"I'm fine," Gordon told ESPN. "We were having a good day. … We had a top-five (car) and who knows what we could have done. We had a throttle stick. I just let off the throttle and it didn't come all the way back."

Gordon entered the Chase in 12th place after needing a wild card to make the playoffs. He lremains in 12th after the crash.

"In this deal, you can't afford to have issues like that," Gordon said.

The crash continued a season of bad luck for Gordon. The wreck will mark the 10th time this year that he has finished 21st or worse.